Hopang Man

The Japanese manga "Ampamman" about a superhero baked from bread by a kind baker and fighting against the invasion of Earth by contagious alien bacteria under the command of the evil Baikinman, is one of the most famous works of mass culture in the Land of the Rising Sun. The character was invented by children's writer Takashi Yanase back in 1968, and twenty years later it gained nationwide popularity in connection with the release of the anime animated series of the same name; at the same time, some critics called it (and not without reason) "terrifying", because in some episodes (as well as in the source stories) Ampamman, taking pity on starving children, fed them with his own body, and then returned to his creator, Uncle Jem, so that he "finished" the lost parts - you will agree that this sounds, to put it mildly, wild. But one way or another, in neighboring South Korea, this fictional universe (in which, by the way, there are almost 2000 - two thousand - characters!) had already gained even greater popularity by the early 1990s. In the period from 1998 to 2001, a tetralogy of full-fledged commercial platformers called "Narara Hoppangman" was released there - but much earlier, back in 1993, a group of high school students who called themselves "Hacker Studio" and were equally fond of both the animated series about this character released in their country at that time, and programming, decided to create their own game about Ampamman - of course, in the genre of platform arcade and free. That first version has not survived (or was deliberately not made publicly available): mankind has only an improved version of 1996. All text, limited, however, to a few words in the menu and during the gameplay, is in English.

There are only three levels, and they are quite small in size; there is no specific plot either: Ampamman simply fights with bacteria (they look like toothy humanoids as tall as the protagonist and with antennae on their heads) and their henchmen - big-eyed green balls. Some of the "main" enemies can jump, and there are also static gunners who fire cannons. At each level, you first need to find several keys in order to gain access to the part of it where the boss is hiding, and then defeat the last one (and the duel takes place, alas, not one-on-one - the adversary is helped by his henchmen). There is a time limit - relatively sparing, but still not allowing you to relax completely. The hero has a health reserve of three hearts (each is spent on any contact with the enemy or the ammunition fired by him; it is impossible to replenish this meter) - and three "lives" (in case of death, he respawns in the same place); If all of them are exhausted, then you can use the next "attempt" with the same number of them, but you will have to start from the start of the stage (the number of these "attempts" themselves is apparently infinite). Of course, the protagonist can jump (and quite high) and "lie on his stomach" (so sometimes he can really dodge enemy shots), and is also equipped with an infinite supply of ammunition in the form of breadcrumbs. Green balls and, surprisingly, artillery bacteria are killed in one hit, but other types of enemies will have to be tinkered with a little longer; The hardest thing (not counting the bosses) is to fight with jumpers - because the character himself, pushing off the surface, alas, cannot fire (but he is able to bend). There are moving platforms, as well as traps in the form of explosive areas, which in no caseIt is impossible to advance. Occasionally, there are bonuses in the form of various fruits needed to increase the score.

The graphics, of course, are quite simple - but at the same time, in terms of the brightness of the palette and the quality of drawing, at least not inferior to Western free (and even some commercial) games of the first half of the 1990s; Taking into account the country and circumstances of origin, authors can even be given a prize for creating such beauty.